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Pan Post 6
Pan Post 6 looks at the backstory of Memnoch and how he came to be. He was once Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death in an ancient universe where his chosen role was to shepherd souls. He reincarnates a soul to be his aide, dubbed New Supreme Being. Highemperor intrudes on Galen's schedule as he seeks somewhere to build his new hedrons, several Deus Ex Machines meant to work in conjunction. Galen allows the work so long as it doesn't interrupt his schedule. Eventually, however, Cosmic Destructors appear and obliterate the universe that Galen presided over. Galen sought protection of the hedrons, which survived the destruction, but they didn't respond to him and he entered a metaphysical existence as a 'lie'. The lie that he was still alive. Only when a mysterious voice creates a whole new universe, that of the NeSiverse, is Galen able to retake a shape. He thus calls his new self Memnoch. Post Older than the Universe In a universe far removed from the NeSiverse, yet inextricably entwined with its destiny... A hill beneath a blank gray sky. Thunder ricochets through the air, with no concurrent lightning. A massive clockface is displayed at the crest of the hell, and its ticking can be clearly heard above the thunder. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: You. Galen - a great god beyond all others in this universe, sitting upon a throne at the top of the hill beneath the clock - calls the next soul at the head of the line, a line of souls that stretches far down the hill and off into the distance. He holds a shepherd's crook in one hand, and a scythe in the other. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: There. He gestures to his left with his crook, and the soul goes to his ordained destiny, reincarnated. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: You. He peers at the next in line, and realizes that it is that time which he had scheduled billions of years ago. He speaks a name, one which he has only spoken once before, and a new entity appears before his throne. Supreme Being: What-- You! What do you want? I'm busy. We have word of a weapon from outside the univ-- Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: There. Galen gestures with his scythe to his right, and the Supreme Being balks. Supreme Being: But-- Galen has already ignored him, his pronouncement irrefutable. He turns back to the soul at the head of the line. He speaks a new name for this soul, and power invigorates the spirit, giving him life and divinity. New Supreme Being: My lord. I go to govern your universe. And the New Supreme Being disappears to the celestial mansions of his office, while the old one trudges to the underworld. Galen will only speak the New Supreme Being's name once more...when it is time to recall him, and select yet another Supreme Being. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: You. So he continues his eternal reign, determining the fate and identity of all souls within his universe. Something happens then, however, that he did NOT schedule. A croak of thunder louder than any other, accompanied by crackling torrents of lightning, reverberates through the air. Galen stops calling names, and surveys the phenomenon with a crease in his perfect brow. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: I did not schedule this. A majestic being, cloaked in black and red, appears before him out of the thunder and lightning. Highemperor: Apologies, Great Shepherd. I am from beyond your universe. And I require a plot in your universe to build something. Galen frowns. At last, he nods and gestures with his crook to a plot of land beyond the hill. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: Do not interrupt my schedule. Highemperor bows, and Galen continues naming souls as is his wont. Occasionally he glances across the horizon to survey the Highemperor's construction. It is a large mystical device, an obelisk graven with glowing runes. A hedron of some sort. It takes Highemperor an age to construct it, in a feat of magnificent skill and magical craftsmanship. Fortunately, a montage aids his work. And then Highemperor proceeds to build a dozen more just like it, in a circle around the first one. More montages are required. Highemperor: It is finished. He looks across the horizon to meet Galen's far-reaching gaze, and salutes, before vanishing. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: You. The next soul approaches the throne, and Galen names him a metaphysical expert and gestures with his crook to the hedrons that Highemperor built. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: There. Metaphysical Expert: Yes, my liege. The newly named metaphysical expert determines that the hedrons are called Deus Ex Machines, reality-warping devices of incalculable power. He reports this to Galen, who frowns once more. However, they are not interrupting his schedule, so he leaves them alone. Another age passes... and suddenly Galen feels a great shuddering in his spirit, a wrongness with the universe. The line of countless souls in front of him becomes a crowd, as souls from all over the universe are ruptured from their lives and destinies unexpectedly. Galen frowns. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: This is not scheduled. The New Supreme Being (although technically he isn't new anymore) appears before Galen. New Supreme Being: My lord! The universe is being ravaged by invaders! They use giant cannons called Cosmic Destructors - tearing holes in the very fabric of reality! Even as the New Supreme Being tells this, more and more souls appear, as more and more of the universe is destroyed. Galen names souls to investigate and resist, but they always come back in untimely fashion. And finally, there is nowhere else he can send the souls except the hill and plains around him. Gigantic cannons appear, blasting the very fabric of existence into oblivion, and souls are destroyed in the cataclysmic collateral damage. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: Stop. The Cosmic Destructors do not listen. Galen frowns. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: There. He gestures with his scythe to his right... but the Cosmic Destructors do not obey. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: I command you! But then Galen is alone. No more souls surround him, and his hill is the last island of reality in a destroyed universe, as the Cosmic Destructors close in. For the first time in infinity, Galen knows fear. He looks around, and his gaze alights upon the hedrons: the Deux Ex Machines. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: Galen. There. He names himself, and gestures with his crook to the hedrons even as he follows his own command, rising from his throne and zooming through tattered oblivion to take sanctuary. Behind him the hill, the throne, and the clock are all destroyed. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: Deux Ex Machines. There! He gestures with both scythe and crook to the Cosmic Destructors as they surround him, but the D.E.M.s do not respond. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: Highemperor. Here! The Highemperor, who built these fantastical machines that might save this universe, does not answer. Galen huddles against the base of the central hedron, cowering, covering his head, as the Cosmic Destructors belch annihilation. Galen, Shepherd of Life and Death: Galen. Here. Galen. Here. Galen, here. Galen, here. Galen, here. All his power is focused into staying alive, and then he knows only searing pain for a single brief instant. The hedrons float in oblivion for a timeless eternity, unscratched by the Cosmic Destructors. The universe is no more. The Cosmic Destructors depart. Save for the 13 D.E.M.s, there is nothing. Not even nothingness itself. Only an oblivion beyond mortal comprehension. Nothing, except for... A lie. A single lie, with no shape or form or identity, remains in the void. And it says one thing, over and over, to itself. Lie: I am alive. Presently, a Voice speaks into the void. Depending on the source, this Voice says any manner of different things. But the Lie hears something like this: Voice: Let there be story. Light and existence blossom in the void, reality stretching like a canvas across oblivion, and the lie drifts along the new universe... the newborn NeSiverse. Lie: I am alive! It is a little bit less of a lie this time, for the Lie begins absorbing bits of reality from the new NeSiverse around it. Form and consciousness follow, and a new being, born from the ashes of an old god, rises. It looks around and takes stock. Lie: I am alive. I am powerful. I am here. It ponders for a moment. It needs a name. Lie: I am Memnoch. Notes Al Ciao's Commentary "The creating Voice I envision to be either WriterGod or the Nameless (who I hold to be one and the same, and several characters in the setting suspect that as well; but that should never be confirmed one way or the other in the story). The fact that the creator is described only as a Voice is to leave the mystery of the Nameless intact, as is the fact that a Voice may not necessarily be the creator, but only how Memnoch perceives the creator. Galen's created 'Supreme Beings' are misnamed, technically, as Galen is the truly supreme deity of that universe. However, he creates 'Supreme Beings' to govern the cosmos for him, while he predestines the passage of souls. The hedrons are the same hedrons that appear at various points: in Antarctica (HFO), Atlantis (Pan), and The Hopeless/Hopeful (CatH)." - Al Ciao the Writer Category:Post Category:Pan Post